LiverKick - LiverKick

It seems as though 2013 has been the Year of the Underdog for Glory. With the exception of Tyrone Spong, none of the current champions entered their respective tournaments as the favorite, but rather as the third or fourth seed. Perhaps it is fitting, considering that kickboxing as a sport is also still a bit of an underdog in the United States when compared to boxing and MMA. However, one of the best things about sports, and combat sports in particular, is a spectacular upset, and last night’s Glory 12 show was an inspiration and triumph for underdogs everywhere. Anyone watching could not deny the caliber of fighters or complain about the finish rate - no less than eleven of the sixteen bouts ended by (T)KO, and no grumbling or controversies surrounded the existing decisions. It was a fantastic night and one that will hopefully continue to strengthen awareness of the American kickboxing community.

Saturday night’s Lightweight tournament winner Andy Ristie showed the world that he didn’t give a damn about no rankings by knocking out number one ranked Giorgio Petrosyan, and then Robin van Roosmalen. Both men seemed to have some difficulty dealing with Ristie’s aggressive and unorthodox style. The “Machine” applied relentless pressure, and didn’t allow the top two favorites to rest or figure it out.

In the main event, despite having far less experience, New York’s own Wayne Barrett won a Unanimous Decision after an intense battle with the favorite and recent Glory Middleweight tournament winner, Joe Schilling. Barrett let everyone know that Petrosyan wasn’t the only doctor in the house. If you can’t stop crazy, then call Barrett the psychiatrist, who visibly rocked Schilling with punches and knocked him down for two eight counts in Round 2. Schilling came back hard in Round 3 and returned the favor by feeding Barrett a vicious knee that put him down briefly, but Barrett managed to stand back up and they fought to the bell. Both fighters showed incredible heart.

Other notable moments included:

Brian “the Lion” Colette added another first round knockout win at Madison Square Garden to his record, somehow managing to land a right head kick from the scrum that laid out his opponent, Warren Thompson.

Saulo Cavalari knocks out veteran Mourad Bouzidi with a nasty right hook just one minute and 23 seconds in the first round, extending his 16 KO record to 17.

Francois Ambang uses great hand combinations to set up a nasty low kick that cut off the leg of his opponent, Eddie Walker, giving him the win by TKO in round 3.

Robin van Roosmalen versus Davit Kiria in the semi-final was a treat to watch. Two extremely tough, technical strikers not willing to give up an inch to the other stood in the center of the ring and banged it out. Kiria faded in rounds 2 and 3, but still a very exciting ‘dialogue’ between the two.

Few narratives in sports make for compelling entertainment like the classic underdog story does. We all know it by now; there is a clear favorite going into the showdown, but the underdog is able to overcome the odds and walk away as the champion while the world is shocked. For GLORY we’ve seen this happen a staggering number of times in the last few months. In fact GLORY 10, GLORY 11 and GLORY 12 all featured this exact thing happening in their respective tournaments.

At GLORY 10 American kickboxer Joe Schilling went into the tournament confident that he’d not only meet Artem Levin in the finals, but that he’d defeat him. Fans who know Schilling were pulling for that, but the rest of the world saw Levin walking away as the champion yet again. Of course, Schilling was able to pull off a dramatic victory over Levin and completely reshape the division, taking his place as the top guy in the Middleweight division.

GLORY 12 New York is tomorrow, live on Spike TV at 9PM Eastern featuring a one-night, four-man Lightweight tournament as well as a main event showdown between Joe Schilling and Wayne Barrett. This is GLORY’s second outing on Spike TV, which makes it a pretty big deal, this also means that you should be tuning in without doubt or question, as the best in the world, Giorgio Petrosyan, is going to be live on free television.

This, my friends, is our breakdown of the card from top-to-bottom with predictions included.

Lightweight Semi-Finals: Robin van Roosmalen vs. Davit Kiria -- This is going to be an incredibly exciting war between two of the world’s finest Lightweights. Davit Kiria is a guy who came from relative obscurity, given a chance due to training with Dave Jonkers and Semmy Schilt on early GLORY events before they realized that they had something special. These two fought back in 2011 while Robin van Roosmalen was on the rise, with Kiria’s technical style neutralizing RvR’s go-for-broke brawling style. Kiria has grown a lot as a fighter since this last fight and I feel like both men are going to look to put on a show. Kiria’s win over Murthel Groenhart shows how capable he is at handling aggressive fighters now, I think that he shocks fans with a win.

Prediction: Davit Kiria

Lightweight Semi-Finals: Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Andy Ristie -- Poor Andy Ristie. Ristie has been a star on the rise in the last few years, with his exciting style and his affable personality making him a fan favorite. Since stepping up in competition though, the fireworks have been halted for Ristie a bit, as he’s had problems running through the competition like he was known for before. Giorgio Petrosyan is his stylistic nightmare and outside of a cut or Petrosyan breaking his hand and being unable to continue, I think we all know Petrosyan walks away with the W.

Prediction: Giorgio Petrosyan

Lightweight Tournament Reserve Bout: Warren Stevelmans vs. Ky Hollenbeck -- After a bit of reshuffling we end up with this fight as the tournament reserve and honestly, Ky Hollenbeck deserves this spot. Hollenbeck is one of the few Americans who has made a big statement of late and has shown to have the skill and determination to be a player in the elite field. Warren Stevelmans is nothing to scoff at as a fighter, but I feel like Ky is on a roll right now. Man, whatever happened to Sanny Dahlbeck?

Prediction: Ky Hollenbeck

Jamal Ben Saddik vs. Ben Edwards -- A clash of the titans! A Heavyweight showdown between two burly guys! I’m mildly excited about the debut of Big Ben, who has really helped to refine his style over the past few years and has been showing a lot more in the way of technical chops. Jamal Ben Saddik is also a big dude with a lot of power, but I’m not sure how to really feel about him in the grand scheme of things at Heavyweight. Is JBS going to be an elite fighter, or is he just a guy who got a few good wins and will be a gatekeeper? This fight helps to determine this.

Prediction: Ben Edwards

Joe Schilling vs. Wayne Barrett -- It’s East Coast vs. West Coast in the battle of Middleweights. Joe Schilling has long been one of the biggest names in America for Kickboxing and Muay Thai and his huge win at GLORY 10 in the Middleweight tournament has shown that he had a lot of people talking about him for good reason. Wayne Barrett is a young hot shot who has had a few fights as a professional Kickboxer with them mostly being absolute annihilations of his skilled opponents. The thing is, his youth and inexperience run into Joe Schilling, who has fought all over the world and not only fought, but beaten the best at Middleweight. I think it seems like a forgone conclusion that someone is taking a nap, but whomever it is will probably not feel too much shame in the morning.

Prediction: Joe Schilling

Lightweight Tournament Finals: Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Davit Kiria -- I’m really most interested in seeing this rematch as opposed to any other possible Petrosyan match that could happen. Want to know why? I feel like Robin van Roosmalen is extremely skilled and can hit like a mack truck for the weight class, but that a fighter like Giorgio Petrosyan will not let his guard down long enough to let him do any work. A fighter like Kiria on the other hand has evolved his game a little bit to where it would be more of a chess match, plus Kiria is a bit less predictable with throwing the big spin kicks and all. I still pick Petrosyan in this one, but think that Kiria could show something new.

There is a term that fans in the combat sports community tend to throw around a lot, to the point where the meaning has become dubious at best. That term is GOAT. If you are somehow blissfully unaware, GOAT stands for “Greatest of All Time.” In a lot of cases, it is difficult to use such a term as, well, let’s be honest here, most of these fighters haven’t been competing for long enough to really get a beat on where they’ll stand in the Pantheon of Combat Sports. This preface is to explain how the term shouldn’t be taken lightly just so I can really explain to you how important it is to be able to use this label for Giorgio Petrosyan without any sense of irony.

Giorgio Petrosyan is other-wordly. There is just no doubt about it, when you are watching Giorgio Petrosyan you are watching the most skilled Kickboxer that we’ve ever seen in the sport’s rich history. Petrosyan earned the nickname “The Doctor” for his surgical-like precision with his hands and feet, with his ability to take little-to-no damage against some of the best strikers in the world while slipping strikes and landing them from every angle imaginable. In fact, the only knock on Petrosyan seems to be his proclivity to break his left hand, which has led to Knockouts becoming more and more scarce for him.

The fact that on Saturday evening American audiences will be treated with seeing Giorgio Petrosyan fighting (possibly twice) on free television seems to be lost on many with the leadup into GLORY 12 New York. Sure, there are a lot of great names on the card and a lot of great fighters featured, but none have accomplished the things that Giorgio Petrosyan has. Giorgio Petrosyan holds two K-1 World MAX Championships as well as last year’s GLORY 70kg Slam Championship with many believing that this year will be yet another 70kg tournament victory for him.

I’m under no illusion of Giorgio Petrosyan becoming a huge draw in the United States or that American fans are going to tune in by the millions this weekend to watch the best pound-for-pound fighter -- potentially in all combat sports -- compete and make the best in the world look like frustrated amateurs, but the hope is that maybe, just maybe a few new fans will see the technical master that is Giorgio Petrosyan and fall in love with the sport in a whole new way.